ADA and Fair Housing on Apartment Websites: A Practical Checklist

Apartment websites carry two kinds of obligation that general business sites often do not think about as hard: accessibility under the ADA, and fair housing in how you advertise. Both matter legally. Both also happen to make your site work for more renters. This is a practical checklist, not legal advice, so confirm specifics with your counsel.

Accessibility basics that cover most of the ground

• Text alternatives. Every meaningful image, including floor plans, needs descriptive alt text so screen readers can convey it.
• Contrast. Text needs enough contrast against its background to be readable. Light gray on white fails real people, not just audits.
• Keyboard access. Everything clickable should work with a keyboard alone. Test by tabbing through the page.
• Labels on forms. Every field needs a real label, not just placeholder text that disappears when you type.
• Captions on video. If you use video walkthroughs, caption them.

Fair housing in your words and images

Fair housing law restricts language and imagery that signals a preference for, or against, protected classes. On a website that shows up in a few places:

• Describe the property and amenities, not the ideal resident. "Quiet building" is about the building. "Perfect for young professionals" describes who you want, and that is a problem.
• Be careful with imagery that consistently depicts only one demographic.
• Keep eligibility and application criteria clear and applied consistently, especially on affordable and workforce communities.

Why this is worth doing well

Beyond the legal exposure, an accessible site reaches renters who would otherwise leave: people using screen readers, people with low vision, older renters and the family members helping them. Accessibility overlaps heavily with plain good design. The same choices that pass an audit also make the site faster and clearer for everyone.

A reasonable standard to aim for

The common benchmark is WCAG 2.1 Level AA. You do not need to memorize it. You need a site built with it in mind and a periodic check. Build it in from the start and it is cheap. Bolt it on later and it is painful.